Welcome to this
week's Weekly Reader, your one-stop weekly online shop for great reading. Each
week I'll offer selections from the top work I've encountered on the web and
social media. While I'll try to list my favorite reads on the New Orleans Saints and New Orleans each week, I'll also highlight other great
stories and compelling features. From time to time, I'll also review books of
interest (remember those?).

And I'm always
open for suggestions. If you've read something of interest lately, email me a
link at jduncan@nola.com or
tweet it to me at @JeffDuncanTP.

THIS
WEEK'S WEB GEMS

Gene Atkins (No. 28) was a hard-hitting safety on the great New Orleans Saints' Dome Patrol defenses of the mid-1980s and early 1990s.Courtesy of Sports Illustrated

A Father's
Legend Survives Injury: Bengals' Atkins Sees Dream Come True: Saints
fans will fondly remember Gene Atkins as the hard-hitting safety on the great Dome
Patrol defenses of the mid-1980s and early 1990s. Atkins, a seventh-round draft pick out of Florida A&M, started 107 games from 1987 to 1993 and had a reputation as one of the game's most fearsome headhunters. Saints fans might not know that his son, Geno, was
in the Superdome crowd for many of those games. Geno is now a two-time Pro Bowl
defensive tackle for the Cincinnati Bengals. A former fourth-round draft pick from Georgia, he'd look good in the middle of the Saints defensive line right now. Tom Archdeacon of the Dayton Daily News profiles
the younger Atkins' ascendency to the elite ranks of the NFL and his father's battle with the
debilitating post-career effects of head trauma.

A Rebel's
Methods Go Mainstream: Jerry Tarkanian ruled college basketball for three
decades. He built one of the college game's great dynasties at Nevada-Las Vegas
and coached some of the best college basketball players of an era. Larry
Johnson. Reggie Theus, Armon Gilliam, Stacey Augmon and Greg Anthony.
Tarkanian's health has declined rapidly in recent years. Sam Borden of The New
York Times profiles the man known as Tark the Shark and explains his complicated
legacy.

In Next
Scene: A Dark Cloud Lifts: The
tragedy of Declan Sullivan undoubtedly will be a storyline to the BCS national
championship game Monday night. Sullivan was the student assistant at Notre
Dame who died two years ago when a gust of wind toppled over the extension lift
he used to film the Fighting Irish's football practice. In this heartwarming
story by Greg Bishop of The New York Times, you can only marvel of the uncommon
grace, dignity and respect the Sullivan family has exhibited in the wake of the
tragedy.

The
Internet's Best Terrible Person Goes to Jail: Can a Reviled Master Troll Become
a Greek Hero?: The Internet
troll is one of the most reprehensible figures on earth, a nameless, faceless,
morally bankrupt hack with nothing better to do in life than wreak cyber havoc.
What exactly is his or her motivation in life? Adrian Chen of Gawker.com tried
to answer this question in his profile one of the most infamous trolls in the
cyber world: Andrew "Weev" Auernheimer, the subject of a 2008 New York Times
Magazine feature on trolling and who was recently sentenced to jail for his
dastardly doings on the internet.

A
Pickpocket's Tale: The spectacular thefts of Apollo Robbins: Profiles
don't get more compelling than this one by Adam Green of the New Yorker on
Apollo Robbins, a legendary pickpocket of almost supernatural ability. Robbins has
become a fixture on the Las Vegas sleight-of-hand scene and is revered by his
peers for his spectacular talent. In this fascinating feature, Green reveals
some of the tricks of Robbins' trade, which are an amalgamation of psychology,
dexterity and, dare I say, wizardry.

The Great
Canadian Maple Syrup Heist: Nobody
knew maple syrup was so valuable until this intoxicating crime story broke last
year in Canada. Did you know a barrel of maple syrup is worth $1,800, or 13
times the price of crude oil? You would if you read this excellent Businessweek
story, which chronicles the details behind the $18 million heist, one of the
largest agricultural thefts in history.

Norm
Macdonald's Keeping Resolutions, Vol. 1: A Plan in the Desert: Norm
Macdonald is one of the most underrated comedians of our generation. In this
Grantland.com column, he commits to a counterintuitive New Year's resolution:
To not not stop gambling. Sports gamblers will love his take, although it does
document one of the most painful bad "beats" ever.